Greetings all and welcome to my coauthor with the talented Kenokosan, who I met on DA and started this nifty idea of our OCs causing havoc in the ME universe. Here's but a taste of our labors! Neither I nor Keno-chan own ME or its characters but all OCs in this fic are ours respectfully. This fic is rated T for future content, though the rating may change. Enjoy!

"Iii" = speech

"Iii" = radio speech

'Iii' = text speech

Iii = thought

Chapter 1: Shuttle Ride

Terri Ceallach shifted her shoulder against the rough padding on her Viper sniper rifle as she gazed down at her blue and white clad targets. As a freelancer, Terri took a certain pride in killing off the less-than-honorable competition. Especially if they were proven terrorists, pirates or straight up slavers. In this case, as it was almost always, batarians. The ugly as hell aliens that wandered to and fro between her crosshairs often spoke of being superior and a lost golden age, along with how slavery was part of their caste system, thus vital to their society. All it did was remind Terri of a disturbing mix of medieval times if Hitler was around to run things. If nothing else, the arrogant morons had the audacity to say her species were unclean and preyed on Alliance or independent human colonies like it was a free-for-all. Such things put a bad taste in her mouth, making the timing when she finally pulled the trigger on the unsuspecting Blue Suns mercenary all the more satisfying. The silenced shot cut through the warm air of the unnamed planet they both habituated, the batarian only temporary as his now lifeless body slumped on the catwalk he'd been patrolling. His heavy corpse must've made a noise since the two guards at the door froze and looked up at where their friend had just been, causing Terri to bring her attention to them in turn, two quick shots dispatching the other batarian and his turian partner with little chance to get on their comms for help. Killing the turian made Terri's heart clench in a fleeting moment of pity and regret. Given she respected turians in spite of their actions during the First Contact War, the fact she had to kill one meant he was a disgrace to his people and his death likely relieved whatever dishonor his family felt over his choice of profession. Still the human woman didn't dwell on it, holstering her rifle as she activated her omni-tool to speak quietly though she was the only person on the wooded hill she'd positions herself on, her lazy curl bangs of brown hair shifting in the light breeze passing her by. "Moreh, you in position?"

From the device in her ear, a clear female voice with a lilted accent answered her query as a thin form jogged to the now unguarded door below. "Almost. Thanks for getting the two by the door. You always were a great shot."

"Were?" Terri asked, mock anger coming into her voice as she calmly weaved between rocks and trees, ignoring the bodies of the patrol she'd left for the varren to eat later if at all. The scents of the forest helped mask the stink of blood from her sensitive nose as she moved down the hill. The shadows the trees provided were reassuring as they helped with her light armor's navy blue paint to blend in as she descended. What little wind that weaved through the tall plants messed with her low tail of hair, making a number of the strands to fall onto her shoulder.

"Better than 'was'. How soon can you get down here?" her companion asked, her distant form vanishing into the facility a few hundred yards away.

"Soon enough, I'm already on my way. Anything on cameras?" Terri asked, knowing the quarian had dealt with such obstacles but felt better when she inquired about them.

Moreh's voice seemed confident through the projected echo of her voice through the radio linking them. "They don't seem to have noticed that I've hacked them, or that their friends are dead so we're off to a good start."

"Good, just means blowing this place sky high will be even more entertaining." Terri remarked with a bit of morbid glee, grinning in the dim sunlight at the prospect of wiping another mercenary outpost off the galaxy map.

"What is with you and explosives?" Moreh asked, sounding a bit appalled with the human woman's response.

Terri shrugged as she finally sprinted for the door, barely needing to breath hard as she stopped long enough for the sensor to let her in. "It's a human thing: if all else fails, blow it up." she stated casually. "It's also why we're kinda trigger-happy. Kill the enemy before he kills you." The brunette woman told her friend, activating her cloak before passing through the threshold of the outpost.

Moreh didn't answer right away, likely unsure of what to say. "That's more disturbing than I'm about to admit right now. Alright, I'm almost at the command center. I hope you're ready on your end."

"Just as long as I don't have to go into the ducts again, like last time. You know how I feel about dust and small spaces Moreh. They tend to make me irritated." Terri responded, moving through the halls with more confidence than most in her situation. Having turned her cloak on, the tiny piece of tech made her but a glimmer of shifting light as she half walked, half marched to her destination.

"Is there anything that doesn't make you irritated?" the quarian asked, sounding a bit irritated at the human's statement. In the background, Terri's sensitive ears picked up on an explosion and a few cries of pain followed by gunshots. Proof her friend had taken the command center with little effort, cutting off the whole base from some of its leaders.

Taking the other woman's words in stride, Terri shrugged to herself, not bothering to speak in low tones in case someone was around. Which they weren't. "Food, preferably human that's been made correctly. Sometimes classical music when I'm feeling nostalgic."

"Over what?" Moreh almost demanded, perplexed by where their conversation was going.

Terri simply chuckled wickedly. "That would be telling."

"Just get to the storage area you bosh'tet." The quarian growled, less than pleased by the cryptic answer.

"Yes ma'am." Terri muttered with a snicker. On the mental scoreboard in her head, Terri gave herself a new point.

Moreh didn't speak for a moment or two, her voice cutting through the comfortable quiet Terri had fallen into. "Where are you? I can't see you on any of the cameras."

"I've got my cloak on."

"What? You finally fixed it?" Moreh exclaimed in her surprise. She'd known the human had one and had been tinkering with it, claiming there was some kind of power issue but refused to let her look at it. The fact her human companion finally got the tech to work was news to her.

"Fuck, I hope so or I'm about to get shot to hell. Again." Terri grumbled. "No worries Moreh, I'll have you look at it when I get truly desperate for a patch up job."

"I'm glad you have such confidence in my skills." Moreh deadpanned.

Terri snickered in response before finally becoming serious. "Are you sure your guy gave us good intel? We have been giving these guys the bizz since well… a while ago. They can't be too happy to know they're gonna lose another base."

"Trust me, my source always gives good information. Besides, who else could've gotten you that visor?" Moreh responded, the quarian woman sounding oddly smug.

Though she was alone, and technically invisible, Terri blinked as she remembered the hard to acquire item she had in storage back in their shuttle. "Oh really? I guess someone does have some honor after all. Remind me to give him a big wet one if I ever meet him. Getting a mnemonic visor after sales is harder than it sounds. I know, I tried and I wasn't pleased when I failed."

"I'll try to warn him before you molest him like a drunken asari." Moreh said with an amused chuckle.

From where she was, Terri rolled her eyes, choosing then to change the subject, pausing only to kill a guard between her and her destination. Snapping his neck and stuffing him into a closet took but a moment as she spoke. "Speaking of asari, didn't your aunt send you an email? It's been a while since you heard from her."

"Are we really talking about this now? We're working!" Moreh exclaimed, her tone suggesting she was nervous all of a sudden. That only happened if the quarian was under serious pressure…or she didn't want to talk about something.

Terri wasn't about to take pity on her. "So? This is a secure channel and the idle chatter helps keep me focused sometimes. Besides, even you should know that humans can be highly social. We live in the now, not yesterday or tomorrow."

The line was quiet for a few moments but Terri waited, calm and patient just like how Moreh was with her when she was finally goaded into saying something. Eventually the quarian answered. "She wants me to come see her. She's watching Nikolai while her parents are on honeymoon."

"I'm sensing a 'but' coming." Terri muttered, working on the last door to her objective.

She didn't need to see her to know the quarian was probably shifting uncomfortably where she stood. "Yes, well…I told her I might bring a friend and she said it was fine just as long as I came over rather than staying away longer than I normally do."

"How long is normal?"

"A few months, depending on the job. You'll be glad to know that I was very vague in describing you." Moreh admitted, sounding unsure of how her friend would react.

Killing another unwitting guard and dragging him behind a stack of boxes, Terri kept her voice fairly casual. "I appreciate that. I'm still getting nervous vibes though. Worried I'll make a bad first impression?"

"W-well no, I mean yes, wait no!" Moreh declared, a heavy sigh coming over the comm. line. "I don't know at this point."

"Either way, some R&R would be good for once. Where are we vacationing?"

"Nos Astra on Illium. She works from her apartment sometimes so that makes looking after the baby all the easier."

This information gave Terri pause. She had mixed memories of the asari world, very few of them good. She also knew better than to tell her friend 'no' and go her own way for however long the quarian was planning on staying there. Hacking the final door with the code she'd gotten from her last kill distracted her for a moment to come up with a proper response. Eventually she managed an amused tone. "Illium huh? Haven't been there in a while. I'm up for it if you are." Slipping in as soon as the door opened, Terri positioned herself so to examine the main floor of the large room, scowling upon seeing it almost jam-packed with maybe half a platoon. "Found the storage area but it's packed with mercs. They're not acting like pissed off jackasses so I'm guessing we're still good to go. What now?"

"Alright, you need to see what kind of encryption they have on the door before you hack it open. Best to stay under the radar until we have no choice."

"Good enough for me. You get shot, you get sick. I get shot, well…we both know how that usually ends." Terri muttered with a grim tone.

Moreh knew quite well what her friend was talking about and loathed to see the human go into her almost primal rages when the shooting started. Though she still wasn't quite sure how her human compatriot came to be the way she was, and Terri was less than forthcoming on answers, Moreh knew better to stick around. Terri was like a krogan in a blood rage when their enemies used her for target practice, most never living to regret it. "I'll duck under a table if you decide to throw anything larger than either of us."

Terri frowned. "Do you really have to say it like that?" she asked, trying not to sound hurt though she knew her friend was joking. True, she could get out of hand in her rages but even then she did her best to be careful. "At the very least admit you want to run for the door in case I crush the table. You know I wouldn't hurt you on purpose, Moreh."

"I know, just know that if things get bad, that's where I'll be." The quarian returned, knowing it was a touchy subject for the human. She'd learned the hard way what happened when Terri was angered and how remorseful she'd been when Moreh had somehow ended up in her crosshairs during the violent outburst. Moreh was surprised that incident alone didn't make the human run for the hills.

"Yes, let's hide under a piece of furniture like a child. I don't recall us being in San Francisco." The human retorted curtly as she stood in front of the door, thankfully out of view of the numerous batarians wandering around.

"Where?" Moreh asked, her voice hinting at her bafflement at the statement.

I really need to stop making human references. Terri thought in frustration. "Never mind. I've almost got the lock. Be ready." She warned as the door finally opened, ice blue eyes quickly scanning the towers of boxes with unnatural precision. What they wanted was small, thankfully, since taking a huge crate out of the small space in front of a who-knew how many mercs wouldn't end well for her. As much as she wanted to just have a free-for-all in killing them all but her fighting style called for up close and personal, taking down stubborn targets with the Paladin heavy pistol she'd 'found'. Anyone else she took down with her Viper, both weapons modded with shredder rounds to unleash the most damage on her targets. Everything else, she did with her bare hands, and not because she was a biotic. Oh no, she was something much worse: the gene therapy had been oddly painless but was mostly guaranteed to be flushed from her body if it didn't work to avoid any ill-effects. If anything, the modding of her DNA had done its job beautifully but at a price: unlike before the therapy, Terri was easier to anger, certain senses would sometimes flare up, making things distorted and her hands would shake like a drug addict coming down from his high. Same as any biotic, her need to eat was heightened as well though not for the same reason. Any medigel they picked up, Terri just gave to Moreh, knowing the quarian needed it more than her, only needing the miraculous goo for the worst of her injuries which were usually burns or severe damage only an explosive could cause. Everything else just healed up by itself. Sure, it hurt like a bitch and any meds she took to dull the pain were just metabolized almost too fast to work, but in the end it was worth the fleeting agony.

The only real drawback Terri could think of was she could no longer get drunk. Granted she never drank before her experimental therapy but when her world had been turned on its head, the human sought out the nearest bar and ordered the tallest one they had. It took almost five of said drinks before she was remotely buzzed, the earliest stage of drunkenness gone before she even made it to the street corner to catch a sky cab back to her apartment. Terri only ended up more determined to find a means of getting at least somewhat wasted but wasn't about to turn to drugs. Instead she investigated whatever alien beverages that were safe for her to ingest, what few dextro-beers or drinks she consumed had her barfing in the unisex bathroom in just five minutes alone. The rest didn't even make a dent except a full bladder. It was like her liver was working overtime just to spite her! Still, Terri knew better than to keep trying and on her way to her crappy rental on the Citadel, some jackass krogan pushed her into a Keeper. The human had cursed a storm at both the krogan and the turian C-Sec officer who'd come to arrest her instead of the krogan, forced to spend a night in jail. Exactly where she met Moreh, the quarian in black and grey coughing up a storm from police abuse.

Not even a week later, Terri was saving the quarian from another officer, whom she gave a stern reminder of the many laws he was violating in harassing the alien girl before nearly beating him bloody when he protested. She felt no pity for the turian when she broke many a plate teaching him not to use his position over others unjustly. Her new companion had just stood by in awe at the spectacle before letting the human drag her away, only nodding when Terri told her they were sticking together from then on before stepping onto the freighter to a nearby colony. That had been roughly a year earlier, making Terri think maybe her intervention prevented the quarian from seeing her aunt as planned so many months ago. Guilt hit her like a rock at the knowledge she'd interrupted their biannual reunion with her unwitting meddling. Her eyes fell on the object of her search, distracting Terri from her brief lamenting to exclaiming in her sudden glee. "Found it!"

Moreh's equally excited voice filled her ear. "You did? Keelah, I thought that would take forever." The quarian admitted before asking. "Now, can you leave with it?"

"While cloaked? Maybe. Hold on." Terri said, moving to pick up the box to see if her cloak would absorb it into its field. Instead it flickered and shut off. Were there a camera, there was no doubt Moreh would've seen her appear. Growling low in her throat, Terri kept her ire under control. "Shit. No, looks like we're doing this the old fashioned way."

"Which is?"

"Giving them something to focus on so I can cut for the door. All the guards should be out of the halls but damn near all of them are in the main storage floor. Maybe fake a power issue or a fire that the systems can't handle." Terri suggested, already working on getting her cloak back on, finding that though she'd fixed the power issues she'd always had with the damn thing, it was still charging. There was no time to adjust the program to include the box, roughly the size of a couch cushion but thankfully had a handle on the side so one could carry it like a suitcase. Since there were four handles, Terri had to figure that it weighed more than she thought, her muscles barely straining to lift the case.

"It's really disturbing what you think of. I can do that." The quarian's voice admitted as Terri headed for the door.

"Good, let me know."

"Oh you'll know. The alarm will certainly be loud enough." Moreh warned, making Terri groan. In the year they'd been working together, she'd made sure the quarian knew her senses were more… receptive than the average human's.

"I'm not gonna like this am I?" Terri asked in pre-chaos misery.

"Not really, no." the quarian told her, regret evident in her tone.

Terri grit her teeth, gloved hand pulling at a pouch on her hip to pull out the recon hood she kept at hand, knowing the thick fabric would partially shield her from the outpost's potentially deafening alarm system. Moreh must've been waiting for her to get it on when her voice sounded off again once Terri finished adjusting it around her face and neck. No point in wearing something if it felt weird having it on. "You ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be." Terri muttered, hating the noise before it was even activated.

Moreh's voice was all the warning she had. "Here goes."

As the alarm kicked on, as well as the emergency lights, Terri was glad she'd put the hood on: her anticipation of the noise and it's actual volume did weird things to her perception for a few seconds, readjusting in time to find that all the mercs in the room with her were too busy demanding to know what was wrong to notice her. In a few quick strides, Terri was out of the small storage unit and back in the corridor, passing the closet where she'd stuffed the body of her latest victim as she followed her path in reverse. Anyone she met on their way to wherever they were trying to get to was shot in the head, Terri not even bothering to glance at exactly who so long as they were wearing blue and white and weren't quarian, she didn't much care. One merc, a rather small looking human man tried to raise his hands and surrender, his high pitched protests cut off before they could start. She didn't even need to switch out the heat sink by the time she got back outside, Moreh already on her way toward where they'd landed. Somehow, the quarian's slim form and dark clothing was just visible against the shadows of the forest cast by the slowly setting sun in the distance. Her mask, also as dark as her suit, made it easy to see her glowing orbs of white and sometimes the tip of her almost human-like nose. Many a time Terri had wondered what her friend looked like but knew better than to ask. Jogging after the quarian, Terri called out to her. "You get everything?"

Moreh nodded as she paused to let her human friend catch up with her. "Yes, even copies of their files for later. We can sell it for quite a price to C-Sec or the Alliance."

"Anyone but the Shadow Broker. That guy creeps me out." Terri grumbled, switching the case from one hand to the other to relieve the ache that was growing in her shoulder.

"Even though no one's ever met him?" Moreh asked, pausing to add. "Or her?"

"Just know I don't trust him/her/it. Someone like that only looks out for themselves and little else." Terri snarled, pulling off her recon hood to curl her lip in irritation.

"Like you used to?"

Terri didn't answer immediately. After a moment she shrugged. "I still do that, I'm just more conscious of some odd thing called 'collateral damage'. Annoying thing really. That and this really irritating alien girl I can't seem to leave alone for five damn minutes before she steps on another land mine."

"Keep talking bosh'tet, see where it gets you." Moreh said with a chuckle, unable to take offense to the statement.

"A nap and a chicken sandwich?" Terri asked, sounding hopeful.

"I'll see what I can do." The quarian assented, jumping slightly as she declared. "Oh, and I almost forgot." She said, activating her omni-tool to fiddle with it a moment.

Behind them, the Blue Suns outpost shook as explosions rocked the man-made buildings, fire pluming along with smoke as alarms went off like banshees loud enough to send nearby birds flying off. Next to her, Terri was grinning and laughing as if gripped by a strange sense of insanity, her eyes alight with excitement. "Haha! Fireworks! Moreh, you spoil me."

"I try." Moreh snickered at the human's odd display of delight. "C'mon, we need to move before any survivors come looking for us."

"See you in hell assholes!" Terri crowed happily, cackling almost madly as they bolted into the trees like bandits in the night, which they technically were. Only the box they'd worked so hard to retrieve held evidence of a certain Blue Sun captain's guilt in an almost two-year case on a major hub world, the prosecution paying top dollar for anything proving the corrupt human's involvement. Terri was sure Moreh would be pleased to know their destination was just a hop, skip and jump from Illium.

Moreh sat at the holographic controls of their shuttle as Terri lay on one of the benches in the compartment behind her, her soft breathing filling the quiet of the space. Due to their evolution and their longer hours, humans required more sleep than other aliens, making Terri's extended nap typical of their routine. By comparison, humans probably worked just as hard as quarians when others would take breaks or just quit for the day. As unpredictable as the human she traveled with could be, Moreh wasn't about to trade a day for anything. For some reason, the woman brought some adventure into her life but also, oddly enough, stability. Having been cast out of the fleet by her own father, Moreh had depended on her skills and her asari aunt to get by along with what few friends she had left. Then…Terri came. Accident or fate, call it what you will. Moreh couldn't explain it either, unable to find a reason to part company with the alien sleeping away their journey until it was her turn to take the helm. Sure the human was rather…uncouth at times but made up for it with her puzzling insight and peculiar acts of kindness towards Moreh and others. When Terri had learned Moreh's birthday was coming up, the human had merely nodded thoughtfully at this information but said nothing. Instead, Moreh spent nearly two weeks wondering what the human woman would do, since she knew that the day of one's birth among humanity was considered a fairly important affair. When the day finally arrived, Moreh felt pangs of surprise and disappointment to find the human had done nothing remotely like she'd heard humans would do. The shuttle they practically lived in was still the same and the human was nowhere to be found anywhere. On top of that, there was a new box situated on one of the benches that she'd never seen before and, unsure of what else to do, moved to open it.

To her shock, inside were tubes of flavored paste that she remembered seeing but never had the money or the time to try. Once she recovered from her awe, Moreh noticed a datapad sitting on the bench next to it with a message on the screen which read:

'Hey Moreh,

Hope you like the paste I got you. It wasn't easy to get but worth it if it's better than that turian crap you've been eating this whole time. As I'm sure you're wondering where I am, it's to give you some…alone time with your gift. Just save some for later okay? I'd rather not learn what quarian barf smells like.

Best wishes,

Terri'

Moreh could only stand there, caught between laughter and tears at both the note and her friend's gift. Once she decided to laugh before breaking down into hiccupped crying, Moreh sat by the box of paste rations for maybe an hour before Terri finally returned. Once the human stepped through the door, the metal door was barely closed before the quarian was draped over her in a tight hug that had the human wide-eyed and gasping.

"Damn Moreh! Did you eat them all already?" she asked as the quarian gripped her tightly enough to crush ribs, ice blue eyes glancing between her friend and the box.

"I haven't had any of them! I just had to thank you! Thank you!" Moreh exclaimed, her voice shaky with tears.

"Okay, okay! You thanked me! Now let go!" Terri tried not to snarl, her mind conflicted between enjoying the contact of another person while hating the touch at the same time.

Finally pulling back, Moreh sniffed loudly from beneath her mask. "Sorry, I just…I just can't believe you'd do that for me."

"It's what friends do. Just as long as you don't hug me like that…ever, ever again." Terri warned, having gone as far as backing off a step in case the quarian tried for a second go.

"I'll do my best." Moreh promised weakly, too pleased with her gift to say much else.

"Now you gonna eat one of those or not? Cuz believe it or not, anything they have here tastes kinda like cardboard. I know, I was dumb enough to try." The human remarked, keeping some of her irritation out of her voice so not to upset the quarian.

Moreh blinked. "Then why didn't you stay here?"

"Because I know you and flavored paste! It's like you're having sex with it." she declared, her face twisting as if in disgust at the thought.

Under her mask, Moreh was blushing madly. "I do not!"

"Not from those rather…loud moaning you make when you eat it. Speaking of which, we need to soundproof the shuttle it you're going to be making out with a tube of that stuff." Terri stated with a wry smile.

"Bosh'tet!" Moreh growled, punching Terri in the arm, making the human flinch as she laughed at her alien friend.

"What!? Can't handle the truth can you?" she asked through her chuckles, making the quarian throw her arms up in frustration.

"Arrgh!"

Like all their interactions, they soon got to arguing before ending up laughing at some point over how ridiculous the conversation had become. After Terri had gone to the cockpit to take off, Moreh finally took up the courage to try one of the tubes of flavored paste. Making sure both her port and the tube were clean, Moreh smiled like a fool from behind her mask when her first taste made her tongue explode before her suit speakers released her guttural moan of delight at the sensation. From the cockpit, Terri yelled. "Get a room!"

"Up yours!" Moreh shouted prior to having another taste, inciting another moan.

"You first!" Terri called back, cackling when Moreh started cursing.

That had all been months ago and now according to the nav computer, Terri must've put in the coordinates for Illium for after they drop their cargo off. For an overly blunt and tactless human, Terri was probably the nicest she'd ever met, fighting down tears of joy at seeing her aunt again. Leaving the console on autopilot after getting them through the mass relay, Moreh decided to listen to some of her favorite human music to pass the time, keeping it low in case the noise woke Terri. It was a long ride to Illium.

And there we have it! like it? stick around for monthly updates and be sure to review with your thoughts on how we did. We'd love to hear from you! In the meantime, here's something to whet your whistles:

Next chapter:

Chapter 2: Illium Blues

Our girls have arrived and immediately get into trouble in a security detail gone haywire, sparking a chase that sends them across the galaxy in search of answers, kicking up old hurts, revealing lost secrets and sticking them right in the middle of an oncoming war with the Reapers. Can our double trouble duo stay alive long enough to finish their job? Or is it just one last ride to remember? Find out when 'Echoes of the Past' returns with:

Chapter 2: Illium Blues!